Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-02-17


the cercle. and for two days ths sew
enteen has not come out. / will eat
my head il. on the stroke of midnight.
that number does not appear"
Then this young man of twenty
three who had never before failed in
point of honor. conceived frightful
thought. Glancing around he made
sure that he was quite alone in the
deserted street. and STOPPING, with
trembling hand. he stole the louis d or
from the fallen shoe. Then running
swiftly. he returned to the gambling
srass he -ssiaa tor es -.As q
his asszs opensd tie cushioned door
OF the cursed hall and entered at the
precise moment when the clock sound.
ed the first stroke of midnight, threw
the stolen louis on the green cloth,
and exclaimed:
Full on the I'll"
The IL won. With q tu,n of his
hand Lucien pushed thirty-six louis
on the red. The red won. He let
the seventy-two louis remain on the
same color. The red appeared again.
He still continued to double the stakes,
twice, thrice-always with the same
good luck. He had regained, in few
turns of fortunes wheel, the few mis-
cradle 1000 franc notes, his last re-
sources, that he had lost at the begin
ming of the evening. Now, piling up
200 or 800 louis at time, and rely
ing on his fantastic run of luck, he
was in a fair way to regain the for
tune that in such few years he had
squandered. He still won. The
blood boils in his veins; he becomes
intoxicated with good fortune; he
throws, at hazard whole handfuls of
golden louis upon the table with ges,
ture Of certainty and disdain.
But in spite of the wild feverish
excitement of play, a red hot iron was
piercing his heart. He could not di.
vert his thoughts from the little besgar
girl asleep under the snow-the child
whom he had robbed.
"She must be in the same place |
Certainly she must be there In a
moment; yes; when the clock strikes
one; swear 1t, will leave this place.
! will nar.v, her In nv own house /:
l Will bring her up, give her dowry,
love her as my own daughter, cherish
her always, alwaysl'
But the clock struck one-the
quarter-the half-three quarters.
Lucien was still seated at the cursed
table. At last one minute before two,
the dealer rose quickly and announced
in loud voice; Tine bank is broken,
gentlemen; enough for tonight"
With a bound Lucien was on his
feet. Thrusting rudely aside the
players who gathered about him, and
who were regarding him with look
of envious admiration, be went out
quickly, rushed down the stair and
ran to the stone bench. At a dis
tance, by the light Of the gas, he pre-.
ceived the little girl.
God be praised" he cried, "she is
still there !"
He approached and seized her hand
"Oh, how cold it wasi Poor child
He took her in his arms to bear hel
away. The child's head fell back, bu,
she did not waken.
He pressed her to his heart to brinl
back the warmth to her llttlelbody, bu
filled with a strange uneasiness, b,
was on the point of kissing her eye
in order to draw her from the beav,
slumber, when he perceived with nor
ror that her eyelids were half open
exposing the eyeballs, dimmed an,
fixed il CLASSY stare. A terribl
suspicion flashed through his mind
he put his mouth close to the moutl
of the child; not a breath escaped
While, with the gold-piece that h
had stolen from this homeless child
Lucian had won a small fortune, sh
had frozen to death. The most fright
ful anguish choked his uttersnce. an,
with the effort he made to cry out b
awoke from his dream on the leathe
bench Of the cercle, where he had fall
en- asleep little before midnight an,
where the servant, being the last I
go, toward five in the morning. hat
out of kindness of heart for the ruine
spendthriit, allowing him to rest un
disturbed. A frosty December morn
; ing had whitened the window-p pane:
and fair hand had traced many
chateau d Espanc TO crumble with III
rising sun. Lucien went out an
pawned his watch, took a bath, go
his breakfast, went to the bureau 70
recruits and sigped an engagement a
a volunteer In the First regiment {